When is Mid-Autumn Festival in 2024? And why is it celebrated? It’s time to hang a lantern and rip open a mooncake as we explore the meaning of this annual event.

Festival celebrations are underway in the U.S., honoring an ancient tradition rooted in East and Southeast Asian cultures. From lantern parades to mooncake tastings, families and communities across the country are coming together to admire the season’s full moon and embrace the togetherness symbolized by the occasion.

The meaning of the Moon Festival for me has changed as I've gotten older. Despite bittersweet emotions, I still love celebrating it. Here's why.

Moon Festival, or Mid-Autumn is a tradition celebrated in several east Asian cultures to mark the start of the harvest season. According to CNN, Mid-Autumn falls on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month and is celebrated as a time for families to gather to sample autumn harvests,

Visitors take pictures of the grand lantern show on display at the Garden Expo Park on the eve of Mid-Autumn Festival in Beijing, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Andy Wong) Visitors look at the flowers shaped lantern lights display during the grand lantern show at the Garden Expo Park on the eve of Mid-Autumn Festival in Beijing,

The sharing of round mooncakes amongst family members during the week of the festival signifies the completeness and unity of families.

A centuries-old tradition in Asian communities is to gather this time of year for a celebration of harvest and giving thanks, and the Irvine community participated Friday night with a Mid-Autumn festival at the Great Park.

Cookbook author Betty Liu reflects on food, family-style, in celebration of home and harvest